Sometimes to stay at the nice places, we have wait until disaster strikes and discounts are offered to reward our heroic efforts for staying in a hotel surrounded by construction. Hey, we aren't above this and the New York Times isn't either.

The paper recently checked in and out of the South Seas Island Resort & Yacht Harbour. Sounds fancy (especially with the snooty spelling of harboUr) but the thing is, the peninsula where the resort lies was devastated by Hurricane Charley about a year and a half ago, leaving most of the area under construction.

Due to the destruction, $140 million in renovations was put in, and an amount like that can't really fail. The resort offers all sorts of Villa options, a golf course, and of course that damn yacht harbour.

Here's a peak into a villa from the Times:

The living room, decorated with white wicker furniture and tasteful tropical curtains, had a television, as did the first-floor master bedroom, which also had a VCR. Though the two bathrooms were not new, they were clean and stocked with an array of Tarocco citrus bath products.

Although this description sounds as bland as a plain scone and motel coffee, the verdict is, we check out a lot of hotels and we jump when we hear "25% discount rate." For $129 per night in a beach villa, we're already packing our swimsuits.